26 March 2008

Housing advocates protest Bear Stearns bailoutDemonstrators say government needs to do more to help homeowners

NEW YORK - Some 200 homeowners have protested the government’s bailout of Wall Street but not Main Street.

The demonstrators, wearing yellow T-shirts with the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America logo, took their protest to the lobby of the struggling Bear Sterns investment bank on Wednesday.

The group’s statement said the government “continues to blame homeowners facing hard financial difficulties in making payments on mortgages that were structured to fail, while using billions of taxpayer dollars

In a government-led bailout, JPMorgan Chase this month offered to buy the struggling investment bank for a small fraction of what it was valued at a few weeks ago.

A spokesman for Bear Sterns was not immediately available for comment.